[fic] olden times and ancient rhymes; luther; alice/john; r
title; rating: olden times and ancient rhymes; r
fandom, pairing; count: luther, john/alice, jenny; 903
notes: for toestastegood for five acts!
The next time John Luther sees her, she is standing under a street lamp on a cold, early February night.
She doesn't gesture or even so much as look at his car as it slides past her on the street, but he's sure she knows it's him.
If she had wanted to stay hidden, she'd have moved just two footsteps in any direction and faded into the darkness. Instead, she stands in full illumination, her green winter coat wrapped around her tightly, her breath freezing in the air as it exits her lungs and floats above her head.
Proof that she's alive.
"What're you doing, Alice?" Luther mutters to himself, watching her in the rear view mirror.
By the time he reaches the next corner, she has all but disappeared.
-
In the morning, when he checks his phone, Luther finds a single line of text from an unknown caller.
Another time.
-
It's a full ten months before he sees her again.
He's been somehow coaxed into taking Genevieve Jones Christmas shopping and the disturbing ease with which she talks him out of his credit card is not lost on him.
"It's a week 'til Christmas," she'd pouted over a cup of tea that morning. And really? That face is as much convincing as he needed. Ten minutes in and she's grinning like, well... like a kid at Christmas, really, and she shoves him in the opposite direction.
"Can't very well ruin your Christmas surprises, can we?"
Luther gives her a look. "Let me get this straight. You're buying me presents with my money?"
Jenny frowns. "Well, that's not the point now, is it?" She crosses her arms and taps her foot, pointing. "Go on."
Luther grumbles something under his breath, but obeys, and when he's sure she can no longer see him, he grins.
"That your girlfriend?" a familiar voice asks, a hand reaching out and pulling him into an empty hallway.
"Alice," he says, finding himself face to face with her for the first time in a long time. His chest immediately fills with fear, knowing what a jealous and irrational creature Alice Morgan can be.
She smiles.
Luther laughs.
-
They walk together, past the food court and the large fountain at the center of the building. She stops to buy a soft pretzel and offers him a piece as they walk. Alice doesn't ask any other questions, and Luther offers no answers. She has no doubt been keeping tabs on him, and probably knows more about Jenny Jones than he does, though at this point, that hardly seems possible. The question had been rhetorical and playful, and yet somehow he can't seem to settle the unease that buries itself in his stomach.
Soon enough they find themselves not far from where they started, and Luther spies Jenny at a counter, a heap of packages being wrapped by a clerk in bright red paper.
"What are you doing here, Alice?" he asks, finally breaking their silence, knowing they have very little time left.
"Oh, you know," she says, her voice sounding drowned in honey, just as he remembers it. She places a hand on his cheek. "Just checking in."
Just at that moment, Jenny calls to him, his back to her, shielding Alice from view.
When he turns toward Jenny, he knows that Alice will be gone.
-
It's Christmas Eve, and Jenny, drunk on nog and exhausted from her excitement, has fallen asleep on the couch, bathed in the lights of the plastic tree that she insisted they decorate together.
John goes around the flat, turning off the lights, save for the colored strands that illuminate the tree, covers Jenny with a blanket, and goes back down the hall to his room.
He is not surprised at all to find Alice Morgan sitting in his open window sill, the cold air having chilled the room to an uncomfortable level.
"Hello, John."
-
The tattoo on the inside of her wrist is that of a small, thin, black dagger. Luther kisses it as she moves on top of him.
"A reminder," she whispers, leaning down to capture his lips. "Of who I used to be."
John closes his eyes, the words wishful thinking filling his mouth. He cannot utter them, so instead he presses them into her tongue, his hands coming to circle her waist, tugging her down to fit them more closely together.
Alice leans back, her head turned toward the ceiling. Luther traces his thumbs along the underside of her breasts, goosebumps under his fingers, the open window forgotten. Her skin looks a creamy pink, the light from the Christmas tree spilling from the hall and through his open doorway.
A moan rises at the back of Alice's throat, and John shifts, turning her over and swallowing the sound with his kiss.
-
"Gross!" Jenny's voice wakes him up. "Why are you naked?"
She leans over him, her hands on her hips, unfazed by his nudity despite her initial comment. "Go on, get dressed! It's Christmas. I made french toast."
John reaches down and pulls the sheet over himself with one hand, stretching with the other.
When she leaves the room, he glances over at the window to find that it is closed.
"Happy Christmas!" he calls to Jenny, who is already halfway to the kitchen by that time.
"Clothes!" She shouts back.
John just laughs.
-fin
fandom, pairing; count: luther, john/alice, jenny; 903
notes: for toestastegood for five acts!
The next time John Luther sees her, she is standing under a street lamp on a cold, early February night.
She doesn't gesture or even so much as look at his car as it slides past her on the street, but he's sure she knows it's him.
If she had wanted to stay hidden, she'd have moved just two footsteps in any direction and faded into the darkness. Instead, she stands in full illumination, her green winter coat wrapped around her tightly, her breath freezing in the air as it exits her lungs and floats above her head.
Proof that she's alive.
"What're you doing, Alice?" Luther mutters to himself, watching her in the rear view mirror.
By the time he reaches the next corner, she has all but disappeared.
-
In the morning, when he checks his phone, Luther finds a single line of text from an unknown caller.
Another time.
-
It's a full ten months before he sees her again.
He's been somehow coaxed into taking Genevieve Jones Christmas shopping and the disturbing ease with which she talks him out of his credit card is not lost on him.
"It's a week 'til Christmas," she'd pouted over a cup of tea that morning. And really? That face is as much convincing as he needed. Ten minutes in and she's grinning like, well... like a kid at Christmas, really, and she shoves him in the opposite direction.
"Can't very well ruin your Christmas surprises, can we?"
Luther gives her a look. "Let me get this straight. You're buying me presents with my money?"
Jenny frowns. "Well, that's not the point now, is it?" She crosses her arms and taps her foot, pointing. "Go on."
Luther grumbles something under his breath, but obeys, and when he's sure she can no longer see him, he grins.
"That your girlfriend?" a familiar voice asks, a hand reaching out and pulling him into an empty hallway.
"Alice," he says, finding himself face to face with her for the first time in a long time. His chest immediately fills with fear, knowing what a jealous and irrational creature Alice Morgan can be.
She smiles.
Luther laughs.
-
They walk together, past the food court and the large fountain at the center of the building. She stops to buy a soft pretzel and offers him a piece as they walk. Alice doesn't ask any other questions, and Luther offers no answers. She has no doubt been keeping tabs on him, and probably knows more about Jenny Jones than he does, though at this point, that hardly seems possible. The question had been rhetorical and playful, and yet somehow he can't seem to settle the unease that buries itself in his stomach.
Soon enough they find themselves not far from where they started, and Luther spies Jenny at a counter, a heap of packages being wrapped by a clerk in bright red paper.
"What are you doing here, Alice?" he asks, finally breaking their silence, knowing they have very little time left.
"Oh, you know," she says, her voice sounding drowned in honey, just as he remembers it. She places a hand on his cheek. "Just checking in."
Just at that moment, Jenny calls to him, his back to her, shielding Alice from view.
When he turns toward Jenny, he knows that Alice will be gone.
-
It's Christmas Eve, and Jenny, drunk on nog and exhausted from her excitement, has fallen asleep on the couch, bathed in the lights of the plastic tree that she insisted they decorate together.
John goes around the flat, turning off the lights, save for the colored strands that illuminate the tree, covers Jenny with a blanket, and goes back down the hall to his room.
He is not surprised at all to find Alice Morgan sitting in his open window sill, the cold air having chilled the room to an uncomfortable level.
"Hello, John."
-
The tattoo on the inside of her wrist is that of a small, thin, black dagger. Luther kisses it as she moves on top of him.
"A reminder," she whispers, leaning down to capture his lips. "Of who I used to be."
John closes his eyes, the words wishful thinking filling his mouth. He cannot utter them, so instead he presses them into her tongue, his hands coming to circle her waist, tugging her down to fit them more closely together.
Alice leans back, her head turned toward the ceiling. Luther traces his thumbs along the underside of her breasts, goosebumps under his fingers, the open window forgotten. Her skin looks a creamy pink, the light from the Christmas tree spilling from the hall and through his open doorway.
A moan rises at the back of Alice's throat, and John shifts, turning her over and swallowing the sound with his kiss.
-
"Gross!" Jenny's voice wakes him up. "Why are you naked?"
She leans over him, her hands on her hips, unfazed by his nudity despite her initial comment. "Go on, get dressed! It's Christmas. I made french toast."
John reaches down and pulls the sheet over himself with one hand, stretching with the other.
When she leaves the room, he glances over at the window to find that it is closed.
"Happy Christmas!" he calls to Jenny, who is already halfway to the kitchen by that time.
"Clothes!" She shouts back.
John just laughs.
-fin